In these years, flat panel displays are used in a variety of commercial products and fields, and it is required to further increase the size, improve the image quality, and reduce the power consumption of flat panel displays.
In these circumstances, organic EL display devices equipped with organic EL (electroluminescent) elements that use electroluminescence (Electro Luminescence) of organic materials are recognized as all-solid-state flat panel displays that are excellent in terms of their low-voltage driving capability, fast responsiveness, self-luminous property, and the like, and are attracting considerable attention.
For example, in an active-matrix organic EL display device, a thin film organic EL element is provided on a substrate on which a TFT (thin-film transistor) is provided. In the organic EL element, an organic EL layer including a light emitting layer is laminated between a pair of electrodes. The TFT is connected to one of the pair of electrodes. When a voltage is applied across the pair of electrodes, the light emitting layer emits light, and thus an image is displayed.
In organic EL display devices such as that described above, there are cases where deterioration of the organic EL element is caused by moisture or oxygen coming from outside. Thus, as disclosed in Patent Document 1 below, for example, in order to prevent deterioration caused by moisture or oxygen, it has conventionally been proposed to fill the inside of an organic EL display device with a desiccant (getter) using a DAM & FILL (dam-and-fill) method. That is to say, this conventional organic EL display device has a configuration in which an opposing substrate opposing the above-described substrate is provided on the organic EL element side, a sealing resin (seal material) with low moisture permeability is formed in a frame-like shape around the organic EL element, and a desiccant is sealed within a space enclosed by the substrate, the opposing substrate, and the sealing resin such that the desiccant covers the organic EL element, and this configuration is considered to be able to prevent deterioration of the organic EL element that is caused by moisture or oxygen coming from outside.